


our cups are full up

by icarusandtheson



Series: encore [2]
Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Character Study, Family Dynamics, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-22
Updated: 2021-02-22
Packaged: 2021-03-12 17:54:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 820
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29638416
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/icarusandtheson/pseuds/icarusandtheson
Summary: The women all talk at once, but not over each other, and when Alexander closes his eyes and listens he thinks of the beach, the sound of the waves, the seagulls. He doesn’t know how they decide when to talk and when to stop and make room for the next wave, or when it’s okay to laugh loud and when to hold it behind their hands, so he stays quiet, listens.Alexander, Rachel, and a few moments at the local café throughout the years.
Relationships: Rachel Faucette Buck & Alexander Hamilton
Series: encore [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/846099
Comments: 2
Kudos: 9





	our cups are full up

**Author's Note:**

> just a small thing born of me wondering where and with who alex spent most of his time when he wasn't home, in his early years, and what kind of places and people might have made him feel some kind of belonging. technically encore 'verse, in and around the same time periods as the early pieces of "her last refrain" -- the events of this story are before james leaves.

_sosmall_

_douxdouxsweetheartsuchbigeyes_

“Let Rachel pull it, it tastes like gas when you do it, always burned --”

“Leave him here, we’ll keep an eye on him -- see? What a good boy. There’s _mamá,_ see? She’s making us coffee, she’ll be right back.”

The old woman smiles at him. Her eyes are almost lost in all the wrinkles around them. Her fingernails are bright pink, and her skin is cool and dry and papery against his palm. She presses a candy there. She smells like flowers. Alexander looks up at his mother.

She hums. “It’s for you, you can have it. Say thank you to the _señora.”_

_“Gracias, señora.”_

The old woman laughs, _niño lindo,_ pats his hand. The bracelet around her wrist clinks against the table. His mother strokes his hair, and Alexander knows she’s smiling. He puts the candy in his mouth. It’s melting a little, and the wrapper sticks to his hands. He rests his face against his mother’s arm, even though he knows his skin is going to stick to hers. It’s so hot. 

They all talk at once, but not over each other, and when Alexander closes his eyes and listens he thinks of the beach, the sound of the waves, the seagulls. He doesn’t know how they decide when to talk and when to stop and make room for the next wave, or when it’s okay to laugh _loud_ and when to hold it behind their hands, so he stays quiet, listens, and there’s gentle hands touching his hair, his face, something good to eat pulled out of someone’s purse, “Homemade, taking them to my sister, but there’s extra -- don’t you give him yours, Rachel, there’s more than enough -- good that he has a good appetite. Here, baby, have another one -- there’s fruit in it, it’s good for you --”, something pretty, dropped into his hands when he looks at it for long enough -- “It’s not even real, let him play -- yeah? Is it pretty, you like it? He has your eyes, you know --” 

Bright lights, buzzing. Coffee-smell. He buries his face into his mother’s neck. He doesn’t want to be awake.

“Don’t let me keep you here if you’re closing.” 

“No, no -- here. A little more milk than anything, but it’s late, no? You’ve got work.”

His mother murmuring something that sounds like _thank you,_ the soft sounds of her drinking. He drifts. 

Someone, softly, “You could do better, you know.” 

“Shh,” his mother says. She rubs his back, and he closes his eyes again.

“Here.” His mother pushes her cup over to him, careful not to stain his notebook.

Alexander breathes in the smell, milky sweet and strong, and drains the last of it.

It tastes like the room smells: strong and sweet, cinnamon and perfume at the back of his throat. His mother’s, mostly, he can smell it all over the cup, but the other women’s, too. Gossip, laughter, it pours over him while he pretends not to be listening -- too old for it. Who’s dating who, whose daughter’s new baby came too early -- “It’s hard,” his mother says, her voice strange, but when he looks up at her, her face is smooth; he leans into her a little, feels her take a deep breath -- whose boss is a son of a bitch -- _“Not in front of the kid!”_ \-- or whose husband. 

He draws in the margin of his page, mostly to keep his pen moving. He finished his homework a long time ago. A curling line, the flowers on the shirt the woman at the counter is wearing.

“So Alexander, do you have a girlfriend yet?”

His pencil stops.

His mother pushes her cup and plate forward. Softly, but it sounds loud, to him. Someone picks it up. Maybe the woman in the flowers. He doesn’t look. “He’s very focused on his studies, he doesn’t have time for girls.”

A beat of quiet. Alexander follows the loops he drew with his eyes, over and over and over, going down, down, down.

“Too young,” someone says, and there’s a murmur of agreement. Alexander blinks, breathes.

“That’s good. He’s a good boy. My grandson, all he does is chase the girls -- I tell him to think about his future instead, time for girls later, but no. I wish he was more like your son, so smart, so hardworking. But you know how they are, this generation.”

“Mm, what can you do?” says his mother, and the topic flows away from Alexander, and all the girlfriends he doesn’t have yet. 

Another cup appears, magic. Lots of milk, lots of sugar and cinnamon, the way they make it up for the little ones. An apology, mixed up thick and light and sweet. Alexander puts his books to the side, says _gracias_ or _merci_ or _thank you_ because at least one of them will be right, and sips it while a hand pats his head. _Niño lindo, doux-doux._

**Author's Note:**

> *Thanks for reading! Leave a kudos and comment if you liked it!  
> *Find me on Tumblr at [icarusandtheson](https://icarusandtheson.tumblr.com/)


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